I was waiting for the Australian author, Christos Tsiolkas to begin his first UK event this week and, as the audience filed in from the drizzle, I noticed a particular absence in the room. That of women. It was just me until – phew – three others slunk in. Tsiolkas's reading at a Bloomsbury basement bar had been organised by the bookshop Gay's the Word, so the clue was in the title, but I was thrown at first, to be among an audience with shared affinities that reared themselves – fascinatingly – during the discussion.

The only surprise with Jonathan Trott’s decision to withdraw from England’s Ashes tour of Australia with a stress-related illness is that instances like this do not occur more often. The scrutiny top sportsmen and women are now exposed to and the expectation that is placed on their sometimes fragile bodies is immense. It should, therefore, come as no surprise when an individual is forced to remove themselves from the limelight because they are unable to cope.